I did a post last week livid because Cap1 would not give me a CLI, even though I have been a good customer since 2009. My current CL with them is $1500 with a balance of $1463. I then requested an APR deduction, was denied for that as well and am now waiting on the upgrade to my Quicksilver card.

I have been in the garden for about a year and my plan was to pay down my CAP1 balance to 50% at the beginning of the year. Then do and app/bt for the Chase Freedom once my scores jumped.

Well in the last couple of months Chase Slate kept sending me offers. So I was so pissed with Cap1 I pulled the trigger tonite. Did the online app with the CAP1 balance transfer and was approved on the spot for 3K.

Now my goal is to obtain prime cards with good CL's and APRS.

I currently have the following;

Home Depot with 3K limit, 1200 avail credit

Orchard/Cap1-800 limit, 403 avail credit

TJ Maxx-1600 limit, 800 avail credit

Discover-4700 limit, 1500 avail credit

My credit scores are as follows;

Equifax-683

TU-661

Experian-666

With all of the above being said and a plan to pay down my Discover and Home Depot in the near future.

Should I start an AP spree tonite and apply for another prime BT card and just get rid of the low CL Orchard card?

This way I can be rid of CAP1 for good. The only drawback here is that my Orchard card has a 12.99 APR.

Or should I pay off 500 bucks on my Chase Slate immediatly and then transfer my $400 balance from the Orchard card to pay off with Chase at a 0% interest rate?

Then with either or both of the above mentioned, im on the fence about closing both Cap1 accounts.

Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

What does the rest of your profile look like? AAoA? Baddies, etc? I ask because I have had scores similar to yours. Other factors would determine whether or not another lender would approve you. I know that you applied for the Citi and were denied, but imo, that doesn't say much. Although I have 2 Citi Simplicity, they haven't been a lender that's favored my credit profile. They originally gave me a Simplicity with a $1500 limit. I applied for another card (not Simplicity) and they gave me another Simplicity with a $500 limit. A few months later, they CLD me and now I have two Simplicities at $500 ea. No CLI although other lenders such as Chase, Amex, B of A, Barclay's and others have given me more credit to start with, despite my imperfect profile. So being denied from Citi isn't saying much IMHO. However, your utilization may be hurting you. Once I paid down my utilization, I was able to get more credit and with better terms.

Anyhow, I wouldn't do a full on app spree just yet. See what you can fix in your profile (the utilization of course) and once you make the changes and they report, you should be able to get more of what you want. The problem of applying for credit when you need it, such as for BT's because of high util and such is that it is harder to get approved. You are at 50% or more util on your cards which doesn't look good. In my experience, even having 26 cards and carrying high balances over 50% util on 4 or 5 drops the score and scares lenders away. The advice I read about keeping low util on each card as well as overall has helped me and works.

This is just based off my experiences with scores similar to yours. Good luck.

This is an example why I don't understand this forum at times. IMHO there is a lot of people who honestly want to help people rebuild their credit Not enough people telling people not to apply when they shouldn't and this a prime example.

Your mad at cap 1 for not giving you a cli when you have maxed out their card. Then your others cards are all above 50% util. So you probably shouldn't of applied for the slate but that is great that you got approved and can do a BT. After you explained that you wanted to app for another card nobody said don't do it and to leave well enough alone.

I am not surprised at the outcome. This is a little tough love but you need to garden for awhile because if you apply for another prime soon they can tell that your just pyramiding debt and not paying it down. Not to say that you won't get approved but at this stage I highly doubt it.

Re: CHASE SLATE ONLINE INSTANT APPROVAL QUESTION

Also, OP, you got approved for $3k. Slate let me transfer up to 80% of the CL. Transfer everything up to $2400 in order of what you're paying the most interest on to the least. And Capital One not wanting to giver you CLIs when you're maxed out is PERFECTLY UNDERSTANDABLE. Transfer $2400 in balances to the Slate, ASAP. Then pay on it every month, the % you need to spread it evenly over that intro period rate. It isn't the best "lowest interest" way to do it, but it will help with the discipline to get it done with - usually if you don't finish within that intro period, you pay for the interest you WOULD have had accumulated during that time if it isn't all paid off by the end of it.

Every month, once you've paid that amount to Slate and the minimums on everything else, put as much as you can towards the highest interest debt. Don't think about expanding your card portfolio or asking for higher limits until you're all paid up.

I do actually have balances myself...I'm paying the lowest interest I can on them, and I'm aggressively paying down the highest. I'm also working to reduce my expenses so I have more "extra" to throw at them. Once you've got everything paid down, re-evaluate what you need to do with each card. You'll have more options then.

This is an example why I don't understand this forum at times. IMHO there is a lot of people who honestly want to help people rebuild their credit Not enough people telling people not to apply when they shouldn't and this a prime example.

Your mad at cap 1 for not giving you a cli when you have maxed out their card. Then your others cards are all above 50% util. So you probably shouldn't of applied for the slate but that is great that you got approved and can do a BT. After you explained that you wanted to app for another card nobody said don't do it and to leave well enough alone.

I am not surprised at the outcome. This is a little tough love but you need to garden for awhile because if you apply for another prime soon they can tell that your just pyramiding debt and not paying it down. Not to say that you won't get approved but at this stage I highly doubt it.

Re: CHASE SLATE ONLINE INSTANT APPROVAL QUESTION

Unless OP is needing to buy a house soon, there is NO WAY in a 100 years a suggestion of paying 26.99% on a card over paying 0% should be said just to keep the card under 80% util... WHO CARES about util... OP needs out of debt and by the citi denial, op needs overall util down and the only way that will happen is if they can apply more cash to the debt with no interest.

Transfer $2950... no fee so you don't need to leave room like with other cards and doing BT.

Pay off Cap1 and Orchard first because those are small.

Then pay all of TJ Max

Then I believe you have HD and Discover left... pick the higher of the rates, if you are not on 0%, I assume that would be HD and pay as much as you can.

Then, go back to EO of Cap1 and ask for a review again... give it a month for the credit reports to update the new card and all your payments.

They just might give you a nice kick up (then we don't have to be mad about being denied CLI while it's maxed out ( I had missed this originally)

with any luck you will find them giving you an increase and an offer to BT and you might just be able to move the rest of the HD and Discover... or maybe in 6 months of paying you can get 1 paid off on your own and then maybe try citi again... I would suggest looking for pre-qual instead of cold applying.

but your credit will fair far better with 1 maxed out card and 2 cards under 50% then having 1 card 80%, and 5 over 50%.

Even if in the end you can't get CLI out of Cap1 and Orchard in a month, leave them for a minute... you can't loose more open credit lines to your util. right now unless you can't stop yourself from charging on them... but since you are not maxed out on all your cards, I read it as you are working on this...

Unless OP is needing to buy a house soon, there is NO WAY in a 100 years a suggestion of paying 26.99% on a card over paying 0% should be said just to keep the card under 80% util... WHO CARES about util...OP needs out of debt and by the citi denial, op needs overall util down and the only way that will happen is if they can apply more cash to the debt with no interest.

Transfer $2950... no fee so you don't need to leave room like with other cards and doing BT.

Pay off Cap1 and Orchard first because those are small.

Then pay all of TJ Max

Then I believe you have HD and Discover left... pick the higher of the rates, if you are not on 0%, I assume that would be HD and pay as much as you can.

Then, go back to EO of Cap1 and ask for a review again... give it a month for the credit reports to update the new card and all your payments.

They just might give you a nice kick up (then we don't have to be mad about being denied CLI while it's maxed out ( I had missed this originally)

with any luck you will find them giving you an increase and an offer to BT and you might just be able to move the rest of the HD and Discover... or maybe in 6 months of paying you can get 1 paid off on your own and then maybe try citi again... I would suggest looking for pre-qual instead of cold applying.

but your credit will fair far better with 1 maxed out card and 2 cards under 50% then having 1 card 80%, and 5 over 50%.

Even if in the end you can't get CLI out of Cap1 and Orchard in a month, leave them for a minute... you can't loose more open credit lines to your util. right now unless you can't stop yourself from charging on them... but since you are not maxed out on all your cards, I read it as you are working on this...

+1 This. I would also call the backdoor with Chase and see about doing a recon for the CL on the Slate so that you can move as much as possible of your high interest CC debt. That no BT-fee with Slate is an awesome deal to take advantage of and work on paying off your cc debt.

Re: CHASE SLATE ONLINE INSTANT APPROVAL QUESTION

I did a post last week livid because Cap1 would not give me a CLI, even though I have been a good customer since 2009. My current CL with them is $1500 with a balance of $1463.

Utiiization matters more than how long you've been with them. $1,463/$1,500 is over 97% and maxxed out.

qt33 wrote:

I currently have the following;

Home Depot with 3K limit, 1200 avail credit

Orchard/Cap1-800 limit, 403 avail credit

TJ Maxx-1600 limit, 800 avail credit

Discover-4700 limit, 1500 avail credit

qt33 wrote:

Should I start an AP spree tonite and apply for another prime BT card and just get rid of the low CL Orchard card?

Get your utilization down before you even consider applying for anything -- let alone sprees. If you aren't doing the math to calculate your utilization then do so and monitor it. According to what you've posted your overall utilization is well over 60% but that doesn't include your new Slate. EDIT: It also doesn't include your $1,500 limit C1 but you can do the math.

You might be able to eke out some approvals as things now stand but you'll get very unfavorable terms. As an example, near the end of last year I had high utilization and Chase would only approve me for a $2K Slate with well over 20% APR (probably whatever is the worst rate on the Slate). Dropped my utilization down to under 10% with no other changes and they approved me for a $25K CSP and $25K UMPE with the best rates avaialble.. I'm not saying that your credit would support the same with lower utilization. I'm just providing that as an example of how much high utilization can hold one back.

Creditaddict wrote:

WHO CARES about util...

I'd be careful with that. I've had CL's reduced due to maxxed out cards (that were maxxed out for a while). OP can BT to reduce the utilization on the maxxed out card.

Re: CHASE SLATE ONLINE INSTANT APPROVAL QUESTION

I checked the attendance sheet and didn't see your name should I call for an escort Lol

Couldn't help myself

Before you app think...Have you done your research of the CC?Does it fit your spending?Do you have a plan for the bonus w/o going into debt?Can you afford the AF?Do you know the cards benefits? Is it worth the HP?

Re: CHASE SLATE ONLINE INSTANT APPROVAL QUESTION

I would like to re-iterate that the ONLY reason I'm suggesting putting any money into the 0% card is because of the penalty if the balance is not paid off within the promotional period.

And the only reason I didn't suggest maxing out the Slate with BTs is because I just got a Slate myself, oh, 15 months ago, and I could only transfer up to 80% of the CL.

OP needs to pay all of these revolving balances down / off, absolutely. And to do it from highest to lowest interest rates. If OP can do that and also pay off the Slate within the intro period, awesome. Otherwise, I still advocate dividing up the Slate payments such that it's paid off within that intro period. 0% isn't 0% when you get hit for retroactive interest at the end of an intro period because you didn't pay it off in time!

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